PEOPLE'S DEPUTY

"We, the Mus-lims, who comprise more than 20 million of the total population of the Russian state, listen to all the vicissitudes of the agrarian issue with equal sensitivity, and look forward to its satisfactory settlement with the same anxiety as the rest of the population of the Russian Empire. After a number of speeches delivered from this rostrum, I deem it unnecessary to tire your attention by portraying the endless poverty and infinite economic deprivation, which millions of peasants have been pushed into".

This is an excerpt from Fatali-xan Xoyski's speech at the State Duma's meeting of 2 April 1907 dedicated to the agrarian crisis that had gripped the declining empire. Many of us know Fatali-xan as one of the leaders of the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). He was the first Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs (1918-1919), Minister of War and Minister of Justice (1918), as well as Foreign Minister (1918-1919 and 1919-1920) of the ADR.

However, much less is known about the activity of this gifted politician in previous years.

For the rights of all Muslims

Fatali-xan was born in Ganca, to the family of a third-generation military. Nonetheless he did not follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and father (Life Guards Colonel) and chose to enter on a career as a lawyer and politician. In 1897, at the age of 22, he graduated from Moscow State University's legal department, and began to practice law in Tbilisi, Sukhumi, Kutaisi and his native Ganca. A brilliant young lawyer interested in problems of the region, its politics and economy quickly attracted the attention of well-known public figure and publicist Alimardan bay Topcubasov.

Back then, in the early 20th century, it was rumoured that at a Paris conference in 1904, Emperor Nicholas II finally succumbed to persuasion of the French, who ex-plained to him that the days of autocracy had gone and that the state needed a parliament. At that time, the empire was going through a deep crisis, the population was plunging into poverty, revolts erupted now and again, and terrorist attacks occasionally happened. The intellectuals of the regions hoped very much that they would be represented in the State Duma. And Topcubasov was seriously preparing for this possibility. In August 1905, he invited young lawyer Xoyski to take part in the First All-Russian Muslim Congress held in Nizhniy Novgorod, at which they discussed the formation of a Muslim faction in the future State Duma and overall consolidation of all the Muslims living in the Empire. There was established the organization "Ittifaqi Muslimin" [Union of Muslims], the purpose of which was to "defend the interests of the people in material and social spheres, develop a common line in reforming the community and stick to this line". Xoyski became a member of the organization's Economic Commission, as well as of its Legal Commission together with Topcubasov and Xalil bay Xasmammadov.

By that time, the country was overtaken by the first revolution, which forced the emperor to listen to words of advice and convene the State Duma, the first in the history of the Russian Empire. Topcubasov regarded Xoyski as his associate, an educated and gifted man who advocated the rights of both Muslims (and the Empire's poor in general) and his native Caucasus.

Unfortunately, despite all the efforts, Xoyski, who was a candidate from his native Yelisavetpol (Ganca) Province, failed to make it to the first State Duma. However, just six months later (in summer 1906), it was dissolved by an imperial decree, and new elections were held. At the second attempt, Xoyski became a member of parliament.

Political views

Xoyski was an active opponent of the resettlement of citizens to different regions. The turn of the century proved to be a period of unprecedented economic disaster for the Empire due to falling yields. As an agrarian country, the Empire heavily depended on exports of grains, and lean years made a detrimental impact on the country. Stolypin's reform that followed only aggravated the situation, as it provided for the resettlement of thousands of peasants who had to leave their homes.

Many were relocated to the Caucasus, where they just could not cohabit in the region that had already been densely populated. Xoyski was one of the first to raise this question. "Resettlement cannot bring about any useful result. On the contrary, it gives quite negative results in this case. If you knew the huge number of deaths among the children of settlers moved to the Caucasus, you would themselves come to the conclusion that relocation means only a misfortune and an economic ruin for settlers. In my opinion, the issue of relocation is, in most cases, the result of a rather unfortunate idea that emerged in the stifling atmosphere of bureaucratic offices. This is the idea of the Russification of certain parts and certain areas of the state. That is the main purpose of the relocation, rather than the interests of these persons".

Xoyski was not a Russophobe, of course. His main objective was to counteract the ill-considered strategy rather than to stop the Russifica-tion of the Caucasus. After all, Russian was the main language for Xoyski. Just as Leo Tolstoy, who now and then wrote another letter to the tsar from his Yasnaya Polyana, demanding a revision of the reform, Xoyski understood its futility and anticipated the decline of the Empire.

He saw the root of the problem in that, having gained freedom, the peasants were at the same time left without land. Thus an odd situation arose: in a country full of black earth and occupying one-sixth of the world's land surface, a large proportion of land was not cultivated as it belonged to landowners who had no serfs anymore. In this context, Xoyski was aware that new times had come, that serfdom was not over and that the country had not in fact begun to play by new economic rules. He suggested that the state should buy out land from the landowners in favour of the peasants at the government's expense.

Fair valuation

In parliament and in his articles, Xoyski quoted excerpts from the Land Law according to which "compulsory acquisition of immovable properties whenever necessary for some benefit of the state or the public shall be allowed only for a fair and reasonable recompense". He said: "I cannot think of a purpose of greater importance for the state and a goal of greater common benefit than allotting the necessary amount of land required for the normal existence of the 100-million starving population. We, Muslims, still do think that such acquisition must be based on principles of fair valuation".

Xoyski was perfectly aware that the more time elapses, the less interest the central state government with its overgrown bureaucracy takes in the affairs of the provinces. For this reason, back in 1906, he openly suggested expanding the powers of local governments and calling democratic elections. He wrote more than once about his home town of Ganca, pointing out the arbitrary rule of the governor-general and officials appointed by St Petersburg. "Governor-generals are almost unrestrained satraps within their district and they act as they find fit with no respect for any laws; they think they are above all laws".

The emperor, a weak and conservative man, who defined himself literally as "master of the Russian land" in the 1914 census questionnaire, refused to make concessions to the future. Stolypin, the author of his pernicious reforms, was killed by an anarchist. The country embroiled in war began to fall apart for a new monstrous colossus to rise on its ruins.

Fatali-xan Xoyski, who tried to piece together an independent state from fragments, was killed by a Dashnak in Tbilisi in 1920. However, it appears that, even if he had avoided death on that day, he could hardly have found a place for himself in the new Bolshevist reality.